Report of the 21st Annual Meeting of the International Scientific Working Group on Tick-Borne Encephalitis (ISW-TBE): TBE - record year 2018

The 21st Meeting of the International Scientific Working Group on Tick-Borne Encephalitis (ISW-TBE) − a group of neurologists, general practitioners, clinicians, travel physicians, virologists, pediatricians, ecologists, and epidemiologists − was held under the theme “TBE – record year 2018″. Several key topics in the field of TBE were extensively discussed, among them current epidemiological developments in different countries, expansion of risk areas, virological and clinical aspects, importance of awareness, traveling and mobility, and latest news on TBE vaccination. The main goals that have been achieved by the ISW-TBE so far are, among others, an increased awareness in endemic and non-endemic countries, an increase of vaccination rates in various countries, getting TBE acknowledged and established as a travel-related risk, and building contact with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.